Solmyr, Demeer, and Aislin are cheaters (and/or) kamikazes; do the rest have a right to exist?

This would increase the importance of "knowledgeable" companions (like Octavia, Nellki, etc.) to transfer the necessary spell from the starting mage to the warrior found in the tavern on day 1 – as an option, although it's quite cumbersome and heavily depends on random chance (whether they'll appear or not)... As an alternative, you could try leveling up both the mage and the warrior as your main characters to make the game more challenging.